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At first glance, the USCF Stock Split Index Fund (NYSEArca: TOFR) would appear to be a niche exchange traded fund, but a deeper examination reveals some merit to the product.

TOFR is the first non-commodities ETF courtesy of U.S. Commodity Funds, the ETF issuer behind popular commodities ETFs, such as the United States Oil Fund (NYSEArca: USO), United States Natural Gas Fund (NYSEArca: UNG) and the United States Brent Oil Fund (NYSEArca: BNO). [An ETF for Split Stocks]

TOFR benchmarks to the 2 for 1 Index, an equal-weight index that is currently home to 30 companies. “Each month, the 2 for 1 Index is updated on the Friday closest to the 15th of that month. The pool of eligible companies is evaluated and ranked according to a proprietary methodology, and the top ranked choice is selected for the Index. One new stock is added to the Index, and the oldest stock is removed,” said USCF in the statement.

Institutional investors may loathe stock splits, but that does not diminish the potency of forward splits.

“The academic studies of stocks undergoing splits suggest that you could beat the market by simply creating a portfolio that contained all stocks undergoing a so-called forward split (the opposite of a reverse split). But MacNeale believes he can do even better by investing only in stocks that, at the time of their splits, are trading for relatively low ratios of price to earnings or book value ,” writes Mark Hulbert for MarketWatch.

A University of Virginia confirms that splits boost liquidity via increased post-split buying by, if you can believe it, mutual funds.

Institutional investors may loathe stock splits, but that does not diminish the potency of forward splits.